The Other Story by Tatiana de Rosnay

Author:Tatiana de Rosnay
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Published: 2014-04-15T00:00:00+00:00

IT IS NOW LUNCHTIME at the Gallo Nero. Guests take their seats at the restaurant by the sparkling pool, protected from the greedy rays of the sun by soft beige parasols. Waiters serve food in the usual smooth routine. There are more new people, Nicolas notices. Two blond American women, anywhere between forty and sixty, with the bloated, tight features of recent plastic surgery and Botox overuse. They laugh with the harsh whinny of hyenas. “Oh my God,” whines one over and over again. “You gotta be kidding!” shrieks the other. Behind them is an Italian family, the identical version of the Vanity Fair tribe of yesterday, same allure, same glamour. The photo shoot has stopped for the moment. Those in the fashion group are nibbling snacks by the bar before they start shooting again in the late afternoon, when the heat will be less oppressive. Nelson Novézan lunches with his girlfriend, hunched over his plate, and orders more wine. His face is particularly puffy today.

Nicolas sits at “his” table with Malvina. He looks around at the other guests and wonders why they are all here today. It seems that no event, however horrendous, scandalous, or heinous, could ever alter the Gallo Nero’s supreme and insolent tranquility. Here, the sun rules, masterful, seconded by the sea and the sky in their ultimate blue glory.

Nicolas tells Malvina about the call to his mother, and how someone named Ed answered Emma’s phone. He tries to describe the embarrassment of the situation, the relief on learning she was not ill, and, all the while, the realization he had not been in touch for so long that he knew nothing about his mother’s life. He explains how Ed sounded disturbingly young, although, of course, he could be wrong; it was on the phone, and it is hard to judge a person’s age just by his voice. Malvina smiles. Nicolas resents her smile. He was expecting empathy.

Next to them, Mr. Wong and Miss Ming seem keen to start a conversation in halting English. This is the last thing Nicolas wants. Why can’t these people shut up and leave him alone? If they mention the new book, he will be tempted to throw them over the cliff. He is still stunned by the events of the morning: his surrealistic conversation with Dagmar Hunoldt; his aunt’s discomfiting harshness; the startling knowledge that his mother has a young lover and that she is with him on a boat in Saint-Tropez; the abominable article by Laurence Taillefer, which now feels like the aftereffects of a punch in the stomach.

The American face-lifted ladies continue to howl with laughter. Nicolas yearns to throttle them.

“You live Paris, yes?” squeaks Miss Ming, her moonlike face wobbling as she nods her head up and down. It is impossible to guess Miss Ming’s age. She looks like she is made out of porcelain.

“Yes, we do,” says Malvina, understanding that Nicolas is too preoccupied or uninterested to answer.

“Ah, Paris,” squeals Mr. Wong. “Very, very nice, Paris, yes!”

More nods and bobs of their shiny black heads.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.